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National Study: King's Daughters Medical Center Named One of America's Best for Cardiac Surgery, Recognized for Quality Outcomes

King's Daughters Medical Center has been recognized by Healthgrades for multiple clinical quality achievements. Among them, the Medical Center was named one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery™ for two years in a row (2013-2014).

“For the second year in a row we are honored to be recognized by Healthgrades as among America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgical Care,” said Eric H. Bronstein, M.D., cardiothoracic surgeon at King’s Daughters.

“Our excellent results are attributable to a comprehensive team approach, which delivers a level of service unmatched by any other program in the area,” he said. “Our Cardiac Surgical program has a long history of ‘taking on the tough cases,’ and this report is just more evidence that if you should need open heart surgery, there is only one Cardiac Surgical program in the region to seek,” Bronstein said.

“I am very proud to be a part of KDMC’s Cardiac program and along with our team members, helping our neighbors live longer and healthier lives."

Healthgrades, the leading online resource that helps consumers search, compare and connect with physicians and hospitals, evaluated nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide for 31 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions and identified the 100 best hospitals within each procedure. Also, a 5-star rating indicates that a hospital’s clinical outcomes are better than expected when treating the condition or conducting the procedure being evaluated.

Other achievements for KDMC include:

Cardiac Care

Recipient of the Healthgrades Cardiac Surgery Excellence Award™ for 2 Years in a Row (2013-2014)

Ranked Among the Top 10% in the Nation for Cardiac Surgery for 2 Years in a Row (2013-2014)

Five-Star Recipient for Coronary Artery Bypass for 2 Years in a Row (2013-2014)

Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Heart Failure in 2014

Neurosciences

Recipient of Healthgrades Stroke Care Excellence Award™ in 2014

Ranked Among the Top 10% in the Nation for Treatment of Stroke in 2014

Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Stroke for Three Years in a Row (2012-2014)

Pulmonary Care

Recipient of the Healthgrades Pulmonary Care Excellence Award™ for 5 Years in a Row (2010-2014)

Ranked Among the Top 10% in the Nation for Overall Pulmonary Services for 5 Years in a Row (2010-2014)

Five-Star Recipient for Treatment for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease for 4 Years in a Row (2011-2014)

Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Pneumonia for 6 Years in a Row (2009-2014)

Critical Care

Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Sepsis for 4 Years in a Row (2011-2014)

Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Respiratory Failure for 10 Years in a Row (2005-2014)

These achievements are part of findings released today in "American Hospital Quality Outcomes 2014: Healthgrades Report to the Nation," which demonstrates how clinical performance differs dramatically between hospitals and the impact that this variation may have on health outcomes. According to Healthgrades, if all hospitals as a group, from 2010-2012, performed similarly to hospitals receiving 5-stars as a group, on average 234,252 lives could potentially have been saved and 157,418 complications could potentially have been avoided.

Detail from Healthgrades

“As American policy-makers focus more intently on ways to lower healthcare costs and improve quality, patients are being asked to assume more responsibility for their healthcare decisions – from selection of their health plan to the associated network of physicians and hospitals,” said Evan Marks, executive vice president for Strategy and Informatics at Healthgrades.

“Since all hospitals do not perform equally in all procedures, patients can have confidence that by selecting a physician associated with a hospital that has achieved recognition by Healthgrades, they can potentially improve outcomes and reduce costs," he said.

For its analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 40 million Medicare-patient records for nearly 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide, assessing hospital performance relative to each of 31 common conditions and procedures. Healthgrades awards hospitals quality achievements for cohort-specific performance, specialty area performance, and overall clinical quality. Individual procedure or condition cohorts are designated as 5 star (statistically better than expected), 3 star (statistically as expected) and 1 star (statistically worse than expected) categories. Detailed performance information, such as cohort-specific outcomes data and quality achievements for individual hospitals may be found at healthgrades.com/find-a-hospital.

More information on the American Hospital Quality Outcomes 2014: Healthgrades Report to the Nation, including the complete methodology, can be found at healthgrades.com/quality.